You found it! Or better yet, you found me, the founder, and my corner of our community’s website. As an ambitious Aurora Chaser and spirited adventurer, I’m always pursuing new and bolder opportunities.
This is your chance to get involved!
Featuring Your Photography!
OPTION #1:
Our Traveling Exhibit: See Yourself in the Michigan Aurora Chasers!
Our leadership team at the Michigan Aurora Chasers has been invited to present, exhibit and teach in every corner of the state — and beyond. We plan to load some of the best photos taken by members of the group to a tablet and let people everywhere admire your talents!
Become part of a traveling mini-exhibit, with your photos displayed interactively on a digital screen at each location we visit. To be considered, please send your best photograph in the highest quality and resolution possible. Considerations will include a variety of formations, colors, and foreground. We will also be looking for images that showcase Michigan’s most iconic locations, from the Mackinac Bridge to the Aloha Boat. Please no photos taken outside of Michigan. Limit one photo per person.
Please follow the instructions below for consideration.
1. Create an email with the title or subject line: Traveling Exhibit
2. Rename your image so that it is identified as your own. Please name images using the format: JANE-SMITH-OCT-10-2024.jpg
3. Attach your own high-quality, high-resolution photo to the email. Phone camera images could also work.
4. In the body of the email, please type this information:
• Name of the photographer as you’d like it to appear
• Date of the photograph
• Location of photo, including the nearest city and state
• Your Own Website link or QR Code, if desired. Let us promote your work!
5. Send the email to: MichiganAuroraChasers [at] gmail.com
6. Submission deadlines include:
Next Deadline to Enter: August 31, 2025> In addition to previous photos, see your photograph displayed at first-ever Great Lakes Aurora & Dark-sky Jamboree in Houghton, Michigan, September 11-14!
Example of what this will look like:
Aurora Columnist: Join Me to Publish in Amateur Astronomy Magazine
Exciting news! I’ve been invited to write a quarterly column about the Northern Lights for Amateur Astronomy Magazine! Not only does this mean more great Aurora news, but we’ve also been invited to feature YOUR photography submissions!
FEBRUARY SUBMISSIONS:
Until the next major storm, I am planning to write about the different types of Aurora and Aurora formations we witnessed in the lower U.S. during the last half of 2024, including Corona, SAR, FAE, emissions, huge pillars, and pulsing or flashing Aurora, etc.
Please rename your files to show your full name and time, date and location, separated by hyphens. Example: JANE-SMITH-OCT-10-2024-10PM.jpg
Always a Dreamer
My passion for the Aurora runs soul deep, and it’s something I find inspiration from in an intellectual and creative capacity as well. I have a lot of ideas, and this webpage is really a place to be welcomed into my circle, so I can’t promise I will have time or resources for all of these.
What could we do with more time? Just a few ideas I’m dreaming up:
- A podcast interviewing Aurora Chasers around the world, perhaps in video on my YouTube
- Hosted speaking engagements, library talks, arts centers, planetarium shows, and park programs. I’ve been invited to give quite a few, and would love to do more. A suggestion for your favorite park or library?
- Young Aurora Chasers Club for mentoring and inspiring youth
- A fully-funded Aurora Chasing weekend retreat in Michigan (I held one once on my 40th birthday, but I think I lost money on it. Scroll down to join my exclusive group for future opportunities.)
- An Aurora Summit Alumni Reunion: Stay tuned! This could be coming in Spring 2025!
- My Memoir — Something I intend to start working on soon
- My Aurora Novel, which is finished in manuscript form and awaiting a literary agent who wants to represent it
Ongoing: Submit Your Photo To Be Featured
It’s free! I didn’t become well-known until I founded the Michigan Aurora Chasers, so I owe much of my success to you. When I give talks, programs or events, I often describe the Michigan Aurora Chasers — and I love showcasing the group’s talents!
To submit a photo to be displayed in my own presentations, please email a high-resolution image with details including your name and the date and location of the photograph. Photos will always be attributed, and it truly IS great exposure.
I believe in paying photographers for their work, so I hate requesting photos for free, but I also built this website (and wrote all of my Aurora tutorials) for free. We do what we can, I guess?
Please send your photographs complete with date and location, as well as your full name as you’d like it to appear.
Experiencing a problem? If you cannot get the Dropbox link to work, you may also email Your Photograph to MichiganAuroraChasers@gmail.com
Ways to Support the Founder
Do I wish I could hold a Live Chase every week? Lead a week-long chase for Aurora in Northern Michigan? Recruit an intern for the group? Hire a personal assistant? Heck yeah! But that kind of work doesn’t always pay the bills, and I don’t get paid to do this. There was no return at all until I published my book.
There are ways we can get closer to this ideal, though, and many of them are free!
Ways to Support my Creative Work, Some Without Spending a Penny…
Free Ways to Show Support
- Leave a Public Review — It’s free! Reviews increase visibility for authors, improving their sales. You can also review the book on GoodReads. You can leave reviews of the group on Facebook Pages too!
- Subscribe to my Substack Blog — It’s free!
- Share our content — It’s free! Tell your friends about MichiganAuroraChasers.com, TheAuroraSummit.com, or KaelinArt.com, or Share a post from my KaelinArt Facebook Page
- Follow us on Instagram — It’s free! And you could get live Aurora Alerts! A certain threshold qualifies MAC for a free Broadcast Channel.
— Follow the Group to help us get there: @MiAuroraChasers
— Follow me for already existing Notes & Posts on Aurora or Live Chase events: @mfkaelin - Subscribe to my YouTube Channel — It’s free! A certain threshold qualifies me for a paying channel: Still free for you, professional for me.
Generous Ways to Show Support
- Buy Apparel — Mutually beneficial, all proceeds go back into the group — sometimes with free t-shirt prizes! First Edition Designs send all proceeds to the International Dark Sky Association as a donation.
- Buy Me a Coffee — This is a cute little tip jar website, where you can make a huge difference by dropping a $5 dollar bill for caffeine or gas money, inspiring us to spend more money leading free #LiveChase events. I don’t plan to start a Patreon or Kickstarter, because I do well for myself, but if you’re really feeling inspired you can make a custom donation of any size.
Remember! Our leadership team has tip jars, too! - Buy My Book — Also sold on Amazon or B&N. “Beyond the 45th Parallel” is a beautiful display piece with lots of valuable advice for beginners. You can also tell a store or library about it, or order it for wholesale and make a profit in your shop!
Winner Announced! 3rd Edition Design Contest
Who wants shirts?! Hats? Stickers? It’s time for our 3rd Edition Design Contest, showcasing our Michigan Aurora Chasers pride!
In celebration of more than three years of the Michigan Aurora Chasers, we are proud to present the 3rd Edition Designs for Michigan Aurora Chasers apparel and gear! Congratulations to our contest winner Shea Sarns, who provided a beautiful new design for the Michigan Aurora Chasers! We are also proud to feature a new set of GON! shirts and gear, featuring Admin Patrick Grubba and his call to “Get Outside Now!”
Shop Our Store: MichiganAuroraChasers.com/shop
Please note: We know it’s not ideal to ask graphic designers or artists to volunteer their time to create a contest piece, but almost all of the effort put in to the Michigan Aurora Chasers, even from the Admins and Group Experts, is volunteered time. Volunteer writing, volunteer web design, volunteer social media management, volunteer photography, volunteer everything. The winner will receive a cash prize, raised from our shop sales.
Request to Join My Exclusive Group
I can’t make any promises here, but I’m on a mission — to share my work, to create new innovative projects, and to uplift photographers along the way. Members of my personal group for creative Aurora endeavors are offered the chance to see their photography exhibited in blogs, mainstream media outlets, videos and planetarium presentations — among others.
If you get admitted to the super private group, you’ll also be the first to hear about some of my workshops and opportunities for you! When I am able to, I provide paid opportunities to share your photography under my brand. Other opportunities may include publication in books, whether authored by myself or other authors. I could also recommend your name for interviews in national newspapers or feature you in a forthcoming video blog or podcast. I wish I could Aurora Chase full-time — I have so many ideas!!
Many invitations come to me through my extensive network of Aurora Chasing and Photography friends and peers!
This group doesn’t get as much attention as I’d like, so please be patient and know that it may not be for everyone.
Michigan Aurora Chasers 